The guitar that broke the hearts of many of Bob Dylan’s fans and ushered him into the electric phase of his career will be put up for auction.
The current owner, Dawn Peterson, has owned the instrument for almost fifty years and recently found out that it was worth in the area of $50,000 while appearing on TV’s History Detectives.
The road hasn’t been totally clear for Peterson who had to deal with Dylan claiming that the instrument was still his after the program aired. An undisclosed agreement has been struck.
The Fender Stratocaster was used on Sunday, July 25, 1965 during Dylan’s appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. He had decided the previous day to perform an electric set after festival organizer made disparaging remarks about the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and their use of electric instruments. Dylan quickly assembled a band that included Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield, Jerome Arnold, Sam Lay and Barry Goldberg and rehearsed on Saturday night.
When the band hit the stage with an electric version of Maggie’s Farm, there was a smattering of boos that went to full crescendo during his second song, Like a Rolling Stone. Some say the booing was unhappy folk fans who were upset with the change in Bob’s style while others, including Pete Seeger, said it was because the sound system was distorting.
The guitar owner has not determined how she will auction the guitar. She will also be putting up items found in the guitar case including handwritten lyrics for a part of Just Like a Woman and the song Medicine Sunday.
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